“Mad, sad or just plain bad”
“Mad, sad or just plain bad”
A podcast you’ll love plus my worst reading habit
You need a new podcast, don’t you?
Well, clear 62 hours in your schedule, I’ve got a good one. The C Word, which launched in 2019, is co-hosted by Lena Dunham and her best pal, Alissa Bennett (a former model and self-described “historian of bad behaviour”). Dunham describes it as a “chat show about women who society has called crazy from the perspective of a woman that society really loves to call crazy.” That’s what makes this podcast so great. Dunham offers really hard-won insights into what a hellscape life in Hollywood can be for a woman.
She’s brutally honest about the misery of fame, her own struggles with drug addiction, toxic relationships with men – it's all there. It’s genuinely gossipy and revealing and you feel like you’re getting to listen in on a conversation that’s offering honest first-hand experience and not the anodyne, pseudo-honesty that so many celebrities carefully confect to offer a veneer of truth-telling while really revealing nothing.
The pair have genuine best friend chemistry and offer funny, insightful, sympathetic commentary about their subjects, all of whom have been called “mad, sad or just plain bad” by society. They include Mariah Carey, Judy Garland, Winona Ryder, Lisa “Left Eye Lopez”, Isabella Blow, Wendi Deng and loads more. There are 62 episodes so far and honestly, I’ve inhaled the lot and they’re pretty much all great. Even the random ones where I’ve never heard of the subject.
It’s not a revelation to say that Dunham has a way with words but you know what, Dunham really has a way with words. In one episode where she’s discussing Matt Damon, she says, “He’s got a bad case of country club face”. In another, she says that “Lord Byron for sure ate pussy.” (I promise, there are more sophisticated insights than these but sorry, they made me laugh). Which reminds me, how good is this scene from Girls? All-time great writing:
There’s a little C-Word hiatus at the moment before Series 3 begins so now’s a good time to start listening.
And thank you to my friend Lisa for sending me to this lovely recent essay by Dunham on friendship.
Little disclaimer: When I first started listening to The C Word, I nearly turned it off after 5 minutes because I wasn’t sure I could hack Bennett’s high-level vocal fry/Amber-from-Clueless voice. She pronounces it “bAst” (instead of “best”) and “gossOp” (instead of “gossip”). And she adds extra syllables to one syllable words like “got” (“go-ot”) but don’t worry, it’s ok. You get past it.
I pay £3 or £4 a month to subscribe to The C Word but you can listen to a few for free to decide if you like it first.
Let me know what you think in the comments. Do you have a favourite episode? Am I exaggerating about the vocal fry? Talk to me!
My worst reading habit
...is re-reading certain books again and again which gives me a lot of pleasure but also makes me feel slightly panicky that I’m neglecting the other squillion books in the world. My best reading habit is closing a wonderful book and immediately ordering a copy for the people I know would appreciate it. (I don’t love giving my own books out because they are never returned and then I can’t re-read them but I will do so in exceptional circumstances.)
Anyway, one of the books I like to re-read every few years is The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank which I read for the first time when I was about 15 and adored but duly forgot about for a decade. But then I remembered it, re-read it and fell in love all over again and it’s been safely back in regular rotation ever since.
The rediscovery also prompted me to find Banks’ only other novel, The Wonder Spot which is as brilliant and possibly better. When I love a book, I usually obsessively seek out what else the author has written but for some reason, I hadn’t so it was a total treat to find this.
Not enough people know about these books! Occasionally I’ll meet someone who has and it’s like discovering a long-lost sister.
The description of female characters as smart and funny has become cliched to the point of meaningless but these books are the real deal. Both novels have a gently sarcastic underdog narrator who is - ding ding ding - Smart And Funny and just extremely charming.
Both novels explore the emotionally turbulent journey into adulthood and the painful search for fulfilling relationships and job satisfaction and Bank’s writing of family life, specifically sibling dynamics, is brilliant. I know I’m being cagey but I don’t want to say too much so please do just seek them out.
Little disclaimer: The cover of The Wonder Spot is so hideous it’s criminal. Look at it! Please do not allow that to put you off.
Because she writes about young women and romantic relationships, Banks’ books have been dismissed as “chick lit” and have probably suffered in the credibility stakes for it. I felt genuinely betrayed when I read a New York Times review by Curtis Sittenfeld incorrectly levelling the chick-lit criticism and woefully underestimating Banks’ work. (I’m not hating on chick-lit, this just isn’t though.) I never thought I’d say this but Curtis is wrong.
Tell everyone!
(Look, I’ve even posted links for you)
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-girls-guide-to-hunting-and-fishing/melissa-bank/9780241990094
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-wonder-spot/melissa-bank/9780141034713
Which books do you love that are woefully undervalued? Or are unfairly represented by a heinous cover? Please share in the comments.
See you next time!
Hannah
I just can't read a book with a terrible cover. I know I'm missing out by being so harsh as many great books have terrible covers but I simply can't have it on my bedside table looking ugly. Maybe someone should invent a generic book cover jacket for this very problem. Like a nice chic plain colour with the word B O O K on it in helvetica that you can slip a paperback into. OMG this is actually such a good idea...
This is the most Lotte take I’ve ever read and I’m here for it. Would you make an exception for this book or is this a hard no?